Hydraulic mechanism



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Oct. 6, 1964 M. WElDlG HYDRAULIC MECHANISM 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 File- June 20, 1960 INVENTOR. wan/c A roxefisx Muss BY Oct. 6, 1964 M. WEIDIG 3,151,719

HYDRAULIC MECHANISM 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 20, 1960 INVENT OR.

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1964 M. WEIDlG 3,151,719

' HYDRAULIC MECHANISM Filed June 20, 1960 '7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY.

Oct. 6, 1964 M. WElDlG 3,151,719

' HYDRAULIC MECHANISM Filed June 20, 1960 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 I f5- I I flljV ENToR. n 5 Elolg.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent Ofi ice 3,151,719 Patented Oct. 6, 1964 3,151,719 HYDRAULKC MEQHANISM Miles Weidig, (Iincinnati, Ghio, assigncr to The Carlton Machine Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ghio, a corporatien of @nio Filed June 20, 19%, Ser. No. 37,246 2 Claims. (Cl. 19285) My invention relates to a hydraulic mechanism and more particularly to a hydraulic mechanism for remotely controlling the operation of a drilling machine such as a radial drill.

My invention relates to a method for remotely controlling the operation of a hydraulic clutch which is used in the machine tool to engage the power feed.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a remotely controlled hydraulic clutch for use with a radial drill. By the use of this clutch the feed of the radial drill may be engaged by the closing of an electrical switch. This hydraulic clutch is so constructed that it is operable in connection with a servo-operated counterbalance.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hydraulic clutch and a servo counterbalance for the spindle which are so interconnected that certain elements are common to both the hydraulic clutch and the servo counterbalance, and the rapid traversing device utilized in the operation of this machine.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hydraulic clutch which is adaptable to remote control operation through the utilization of solenoid valves.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hydraulic clutch which cannot slip thus providing a rate of tool penetration which is constant. This rate is measurable by means provided on the machine.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hydraulic clutch which is not only engagegd hydraulicflly but which may be disengaged hydraulically thereby avoiding the use of springs to disengage the clutch.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hydraulic clutch which is so made and constructed that it is not operable in the absence of fluid pressure.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hydraulic clutch which is so made and constructed that it is engaged when the pressure in the system drops, thus preventing the spindle from falling. This, therefore, acts as a safety device.

Another object of my invention is to provide a servo counterbalance which utilizes a hydraulic cylinder to balance the spindle and tools attached thereto. The cylinder is also used to traverse the spindle at any desired speed from a remote station.

Another object of my invention is to provide a spool which reciprocates within a sleeve to set up porting for the valve mechanism which controls the hydraulic clutch. A common hydraulic swivel supplies oil for the functions of the clutch and the servo-system.

My nvention consists of a hydraulic clutch which is so designed and constructed that fluid under pressure is admitted to a large diameter cylinder portion of the clutch, which in efiect overcomes a smaller cylinder under constant pressure opposing said lastnamed cylinder, causing the clutch to engage. When it is desired to disengage the clutch, means are provided for venting the large cylinder portion of the clutch allowing the small cylinder to return the reciprocating part in the clutch to its original position and to a position of disengagement. This hydraulic clutch is also provided with a series of springs which cause the clutch to engage when the fluid pressure in the system drops below a predetermined safe level, thereby preventing the spindle from falling. This same hydraulic clutch is also provided with an arrangement whereby manual operation may be effected, that is in the normal method or manner of operating a clutch on the machine tool such as the tool described in the drawings. When the servo valve spool is reciprocated through manual operation, it operates the hydraulic clutch in a manner similar to that described above.

Other objects and objects relating to details of construction and economies of operation will definitely appear from the detailed description to follow. In one instance I have accomplished the objects of my invention by the devices and means set forth in the following specification. My invention is clearly defined and pointed out in the appended claims. Structures useful in carrying out my invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a radial drilling machine with the hydraulic clutch.

FIGURE 2 is an electrical diagram.

FIGURE 3 is a detailed, sectional view taken along the lines 3-5 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a detailed, sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a detailed, sectional view taken along the line 5-5 or" FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged portion of the clutch shown in FIGURE 3 showing the clutch disengaged.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged portion showing the clutch illustrated in FIGURE 3 with the clutch in its engaged positron.

FIGURE 8 is a view taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 3.

9 is a detailed, sectional View of the swivel assembly.

FIGURE 10 is a detailed view of the stationary member of the swivel mechanism described in FIGURE 9.

FIGURE ll is a hydraulic circuit diagram showing the passage of fluid throughout the system.

In the drawings the same reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the several views, and the sectional views are taken looking in the direction of the arrows at the ends of the section lines.

Referring to the numbered parts of the drawings I show in FIGURE 1 a radial drilling machine having a base 14?, a column 11 and an arm 12. The base 10 supports the column 11, which is rotatably mounted on base ll), and which column has mounted thereon an arm 12 which is adapted for longitudinal and radial movement, and which carries a head 13 adapted for longitudinal movement on the arm 12. This head 13 carries the hydraulic clutch of my invention. The device may be controlled by use of a remote control mechanism 14, which mechanism 14- is connected electrically to the head 13.

I provide a hydraulic clutch with a pair of levers 15 and 16 (see FIGURE 3). These levers 15 and 16 serve a dual purpose of engaging or disengaging the clutch, and of moving the spindle in either of two directions. The levers 1S and 16 are pivoted about pins 17 and 18, and have teeth 19 and 20 which engage the rack portion 21 of a servo valve spool 22. The spool 22 is mounted within a valve sleeve 23. The pins 17 and 18 are mounted in a carrier 24 which can oscillate within a member 25 commonly known as a quick return head. The sleeve 23 is mounted rigidly within this quick return head 25. The quick return head 25 is mounted so that it rotates on ball bearings within two stationary portions of the head such as 26 and 27. The feed worm 23 is mounted on shaft 29 and meshes with gear 3%), which supplies power through worm 23 to permit the spindle to be raised or lowered at the feed rate. There are two clutch members, the driving member 31 attached to the worm gear and driven member 32. Clutch member 32 also serves as a piston and is mounted within gear 33. Gear 33 is connected to a pinion which causes the spindle to move in its reciprocating motion. Gear 33 also serves as a cylinder, having been bored out to receive clutch member 32. Springs 34 are provided to cause'the clutch members to engage when the fluid pressure in the system drops. The annular member 35 fits within a counterbore in the driven clutch member 32. Members 32 and 35 in efiect form a piston and cylinder pair. A stationary member 36 is located at the end of the valve sleeve 23. Member 36 is afiixed to the stationary portion of the machine 27 and carries a nose which fits within servo valve sleeve 23.

FIGURE 6 shows an enlarged portion of the mechanism shown in FIGURE 3. The sleeve 23 is attached rigidly to the quick return head 25. The sleeve thus rotates with the quick return head 25. Clutch gear 33 is keyed to the quick return head 25, so that it rotates with said quick return head. The driving clutch member 31 carries serrated teeth 36a which are also shown in FIG- URE4. Similarly the driven clutch member 32 has serrated teeth 37 also shown in FIGURE 5. Teeth 37 are adapted to engage teeth 36a shown in FIGURE 4.

The driven clutch member 32 rotates gear 33 by means of four projecting tongues 38 also shown in FIGURE 5. The sleeve 23 has an inner bore in which the valve spool 22 may be reciprocated and rotated.

Referring to FIGURE 6, a projection 39 on the stationary member 36 is adapted to be received within the bore of sleeve 23. Two longitudinal passages 40 are provided in the valve sleeve 23 which communicate with a pair of ports .1 and 42. Oil under pressure comes to the valve through passageway 43 (FIGURE 10) provided in the nose of the stationary member 36. The oil enters a port 44 in the valve sleeve 23 and traverses another longitudinal passage 45 provided in the sleeve and enters an annular groove in the spool through port 46 (FIGURE 6). The oil under pressure from port 46 fills two slots 47 and 48 in the valve spool 22. The two opposed slots 49 and G in the valve spool 22 communicate with an annular passage 51 at the one end of the valve sleeve 23. The annular passage 51 is connected with drilled holes such as 52 in the quick return head 25 (FIG- URE 6). These holes 52 vent into the sump provided in the machine. Passages 4t connect with an annular groove 53 through a pair of ports such as 54. The annular groove 53 connects with a passageway 55 (FIGURE provided in the stationary member 36, and the oil passes from the swivel member 36 into cylinder 56 through lines 57 and 58 (FIGURE 11).

A piston 59 in cylinder 56 is connected at its upper end to the lower end of rod 60. The upper end of rod 60 is connected to the spindle 61 and moves with the spindle as its reciprocates. At any given time the pressure within cylinder 56 automatically has the proper value to exactly balance the weight of the spindle 61. This feature is described in co-pending application, Serial No. 729,720 filed on April 21st, 1958, now Patent No. 2,926,554 issued March 1, 1960. When a weight such as a heavy boring tool is added to the spindle 61, the spindle moves a Very slight distance downward rotating the valve sleeve 23. Spindle 61 when it is moved downwardly meshes with a pinion 63, which rotates about its center and in turn meshes with an intermediate gear 62, which meshes with gear 33, which is keyed to the quick return head 25 by key 64. Since the sleeve 23 is rigidly connected to the quick return head 25, it also rotates when the spindle is reciprocated in either direction. This is shown in FIGURES 5 and 3.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, the downward movement of the spindle 61 previously described, causes the valve sleeve 23 to move clockwise. The clockwise movement of valve sleeve 23 causes ports 41 and 42 to open into longitudinal passages 47 and 48 which carry oil under pressure. This permits oil under pressure to pass from passageways 47 and 48 into lines 53 and 57, into the cylinder 56 to increase the pressure within the cylinder against the piston 59. This pressure in the cylinder 56 will increase until it reaches a point sufiicient to balance the additional weight added on to the spindle 61 which is connected at its upper end to the upper end of a piston rod 69.

In FIGURE 6 the spool 22 is shown in its retracted position. When the spool is in this position during manual operation, the clutch is disengaged. This disengagement is eifected because the oil in the large cylinder passes through port 65 and into passage 66 (shown in FIGURE 10) to a sump.

In FIGURE 7 the spool 22 is shown in the position in which the clutch is engaged. This movement of the spool 22 causes the port 65 to be closed to the vent line 66, and opened to the pressure line 67 through passage 45 and port 46.

Many types of clutches require periodic adjustment to compensate for wear. The clutch embodied in my invention never needs such an adjustment because when oil under pressure is admitted to the large cylinder portion, the driven member 32 moves toward the driving member 31 until the clutch teeth become completely engaged. Member 32 is held in this position because hydraulic pressure is maintained on the large cylinder area.

Remote Operation of the Clutch I show a schematic representation of the reciprocation of the spool 22 shown on FIGURE 11 at 68. The spool 22 shown to the right permits the valve illustrated in FIGURE 6 to vent through ports 65 and passage 66 (FIG- URE 10) through lines 69 and 70 into a sump 71 (FIG- URE 11). When the spool shown schematically at 68 is moved to the left, oil passes from the sump 71 through the pump 72 under pressure through line 73 into line 74 into the cylinder area 75 as indicated in FIGURE 7 by the numeral 75. The feed clutch is thereby engaged. This clutch is shown schematically in FIGURE 11. 76 schematically represents the various clutch members such as 31 and 32. To provide for automatic operation I interpose within the line 69, 70 a solenoid valve indicated generally at 77. This solenoid valve which is electrically controlled includes a spool 78 and a spring 79. The valve spool 78 is moved to the left against spring 79 by the activation of the solenoid plunger 80. It is moved to the right by the action of the spring 79 when the circuit to the solenoid is opened.

The operation of the solenoid is controlled from the remote station 14 indicated in FIGURE 1. When the solenoid is deenergized as shown in FIGURE 11 (which is the case during normal manual operation), the oil from cylinder 75 passes through line 63 and 70 into the sump 71. When the solenoid is energized, the spool is moved to the left and oil is forced by the pump through line 81 into the cylinder 75. This engages the hydraulic clutch in response to the closing of the circuit at the remote station 14.

During remote control the valve spool must be located in the position corresponding to manual disengagement. When the operator ceases manual operation, the clutch may be left either engaged or disengaged. I have provided in my design a means for repositioning the valve spool, if necessary, from the remote control station, by momentarily energizing No. 8 solenoid (FIGURE 11). This is accomplished because the oil coming from the pump through line 81 is forced into a passage 82 at the end of the valve spool 22 (FIGURE 7) causing unbalanced pressure, which moves valve spool 22 to the right, placing the clutch mechanism into position for automatic operation. The servo valve is schematically represented at in FIGURE 11. The pressure supply is fed to the serve valve through line 91 from the pump 72. The servo valve 90 is vented through line 92 into the sump 71. I interpose a four-way solenoid valve 95 in the lines 57 and 58 which lie between the servo valve 90 and the cylinder 56. In the schematic diagram (FIGURE 11),

the double solenoid valve 95' is shown in the right position or in the position for remote operation. In remote control operation, the oil to the cylinder 56 is supplied from the pump 72 through either of two double solenoid valves indicated generally by the numerals 93 and 94. The slow solenoid valve for remote control operation is indicated with the letter S, and the solenoid valve 93 for fast operation is indicated with the letter F on the schematic diagram. In the schematic diagram, valve 93 is shown with its passageways blocked, a position which occurs where both No. 3 solenoid and No. 5 solenoid are deenergized.

The position of valve 94 shown in the schematic diagram would then result in the slow upward movement of the spindle. This is accomplished by means of oil under pressure from pump 72 passing through line 96 into valve passage 97 and through line 98 into branch line 99 into valve 95 and through passageway 57 into the cylinder 56. The increased pressure in cylinder 5-6 causes piston 59 and piston rod 60 to be pushed upwardly to raise the spindle 61, which spindle is connected at its upper end with the upper end of piston rod 60. Solenoid 2 (as shown in schematic diagram FIGURE 11) is energized during this slow upward movement. A slow-down movement is achieved by deenergizing solenoid 2 and energizing solenoid 4. Deenergizing solenoid 2 and energizing solenoid 4 will cause the spool of valve 94 to move to the left. This will permit the oil from cylinder 56 to pass through passage 57, vent out through line 99, through 93, through passageway 97 in valve 94, through line 101 to the sump 71. This will allow the spindle to drop.

The rate of movement during the slow-up movement and the slow-down movement, is adjustable through needle valves 102 and 103. Valve 93 acts in a similar manner except that no needle valves are placed within the lines leading to this valve, and the oil flows through said valve at a more rapid rate to give fast-up or fast-down movement to the sprindle. Pushbuttons operating 2, 3, 4 and 5 solenoids in FIGURE 2 control the slow-up, slow-down, fast-up, fast-down movement of the spindle. The solenoid coils are represented by 2, 3, 4 and 5, and are controlled by pushbuttons which are provided on the console 14.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the closing of the switch to energize solenoid 6 causes remote control operation to be efiective, and at the same time opens the switch to the servo valve connection controlled by solenoid 7. The knife switch 105 (FIGURE 2) is shown with the feed clutch disengaged. The closing of this switch will cause the feed clutch to be engaged, and to permit remote con trol feeding of the spindle. Closing of knife switch 105 energizes relay coil 106 which closes contact 1137. This energizes solenoid coil 3, which engages the feed clutch as described in the operation of valve 79. The closing of the knife switch 195 in addition to energizing solenoid 8, also deenergizes solenoid 6 and energizes solenoid 7 to shift the valve spool shown in to the left. This permits oil from cylinder 56 to be fed back through lines 57 and 58 through the servo valve 96 into line 91 through a relief valve not shown, producing an equalization or balancing of pressure within the system to prevent backlash in the gears. In addition oil is prevented from being trapped within the cylinder 56 to damage the mechanism heretofore described.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A hydraulic clutch of the class where fluid pressure holds the clutch members in engagement, having a large diameter annular cylinder, a smaller diameter annular cylinder opposing said large diameter annular cylinder, both cylinders operating on the same fluid pressure and means for venting the large annular cylinder to permit the smaller annular cylinder to become operative, a reciprocating member in said clutch, said reciprocating member movable from a position of engagement to a position of disengagement when said large diameter annular cylinder of said clutch is vented.

2. A hydraulic clutch of the class where fluid pressure holds the clutch members in engagement having a large diameter annular cylinder, a smaller diameter annular cylinder opposing said large diameter annular cylinder, both cylinders operating on the same fluid pressure, and means for venting the large annular cylinder to permit the smaller annular cylinder to become operative, a reciprocating member in said clutch, said reciprocating member movable from a position of engagement to a position of disengagement when said large diameter annular cylinder of said clutch is vented, and a series of springs to engage the clutch when pressure in the system drops below a predetermined level.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,170,538 Sarver Aug. 22, 1939 2,237,647 Willans Apr. 8, 1941 2,318,335 Schauer et al. May 4, 1943 2,464,975 Gibbs et al Mar. 22, 1949 2,482,460 Browne Sept. 20, 1949 2,833,385 Peterson et al May 6, 1958 2,882,761 Knosp et al. Apr. 21, 1959 2,979,176 Votl Apr. 11, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 137,220 Great Britain Ian. 8, 1920 1,223,807 France Feb. 1, 1960 

1. A HYDRAULIC CLUTCH OF THE CLASS WHERE FLUID PRESSURE HOLDS THE CLUTCH MEMBERS IN ENGAGEMENT, HAVING A LARGE DIAMETER ANNULAR CYLINDER, A SMALLER DIAMETER ANNULAR CYLINDER OPPOSING SAID LARGE DIAMETER ANNULAR CYLINDER, BOTH CYLINDERS OPERATING ON THE SAME FLUID PRESSURE AND MEANS FOR VENTING THE LARGE ANNULAR CYLINDER TO PERMIT THE SMALLER ANNULAR CYLINDER TO BECOME OPERATIVE, A RECIPROCATING MEMBER IN SAID CLUTCH, SAID RECIPROCATING MEMBER MOVABLE FROM A POSITION OF ENGAGEMENT TO A POSITION OF DISENGAGEMENT WHEN SAID LARGE DIAMETER ANNULAR CYLINDER OF SAID CLUTCH IS VENTED. 